Years Ago

Today is Monday, May 28, the 149th day of 2012. There are 217 days left in the year. This is the Memorial Day observance.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1863: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of freed blacks, leaves Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

1918: The Battle of Cantigny begins during World War I as American troops capture the French town from the Germans.

1985: David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, is abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: The cities of Niles and Youngstown must decide whether they can absorb a 6.7 percent increase in bulk water rates from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District or pass the raises along to customers.

Speaking to an audience of about 1,000 at Edward W. Powers Auditorium, Elizabeth H. Dole, U.S. Transportation secretary, says deregulation of the nation’s air, rail and trucking industries would help the country fight overseas competition.

1972: Roger T. Overberg, criminal justice professor at Youngstown State University, is named administrator of a new prison reception center at the old Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.

1962: Youngstown’s traditional downtown Memorial Day parade is expected to have 100 units.

1937: One thousand employees of the Sunlight Electric Plant, a General Motors subsidiary in Warren, walk off the job.The move mystifies plant officials, who said they recently signed a contract recognizing the CIO.